It happens in January of each and every year. Attendances at athletic clubs soar. Exercise equipment sales go through the roof. Diets books become the most popular sellers in bookstores. Why does this happen? What do nearly all of us do during the holidays – starting with Thanksgiving? We overeat. It’s hard not to consume too many calories during the year end holidays. Who can resist all of those delicious foods? Who can avoid joining the feeding frenzy during holiday family gatherings? Willpower tends wither during these festive times. The result of all of those extra calories is an expanding waistline. The New Year arrives and so does the time to pay the piper. Now we have to work hard to burn off all of the extra pounds we piled on at year end.
Would you like to avoid those extra holiday pounds? Of course you would. We all would. Is there a way to avoid holiday weight gain and still enjoy that holiday food? Yep – there is. You just need to get proactive. Burn off those extra pounds before they start to pile up. Despite what the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry would like you to believe, the theory of weight loss is really quite simple. If you burn more calories than you take in, on a consistent basis, you will gradually lose weight. In the case of avoiding holiday weight gain, if you increase your weekly calorie burn total enough to offset your extra holiday food intake you will maintain your weight. While the theory is simple, the practice of weight control can be much more difficult.
It takes a combination of cardiovascular exercise and strength training to maximize your ability to burn calories and maintain your weight. The cardiovascular exercise, such as running, will burn calories and will also make changes in your body that make you a more efficient fat burner. Muscle mass is where most of the energy is burned in your body. That is why strength training is important. The strength exercises build more of the energy burning muscles. Here is a treadmill training program that I have designed that will burn calories, build strength, improve your fitness and most importantly at this time of the year, help you maintain your weight even if you slightly overeat.
This program uses a 14 day schedule. This does not mean that you exercise for 14 days and then quit. You simply keep following the 14 day cycle of workouts for the duration of your program. The prerequisite for this program is the ability to run or walk 2 miles without stopping. If you cannot currently run or walk 2 miles, gradually build up to that level before starting this holiday weight maintenance program. You will be doing three different workouts during this program, which I call – The Big Easy, The Fat Buster and The Strength Circuit.
The Big Easy
This workout is simple to perform. Elevate your treadmill to level one or 1 percent. Warm up for 10 minutes and then begin running or walking at an easy endurance pace. You can judge your easy pace using this simple rule of thumb. You should be able to speak clearly but not sing. If you cannot speak clearly you are walking or running too fast. If you can sing clearly you are not moving fast enough.
The Strength Circuit
Strength training is an important part of any weight maintenance program. Muscles are the engines of your body. When you build more muscle you are basically making a bigger, more powerful engine. That bigger engine requires more fuel in the form of calories to keep running. So, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn on a daily basis. This workout combines the benefits of an easy endurance run with some general strength training exercises that will begin to build more muscle and burn more calories. This workout is considered an endurance workout because of the low intensity of the running portions, but it is not an easy workout. You will move between the running portions and the strength portions with no rest. Keep your treadmill elevated to level 1 or 1 percent for all phases of this workout. After a warm up, perform this routine, alternating between easy running and a strength training exercise.
• Run or walk for ½ mile
• Push ups for 30 seconds
• Run or walk for ½ mile
• One leg squats for 30 seconds
• Run or walk for ½ mile
• Triceps press ups for 30 seconds
• Run easy for ½ mile
• Abdominal crunches for 30 seconds
• Run easy for ½ mile
• Bench step ups for 30 seconds
• Run easy for ½ mile
• Biceps curls for 30 seconds
• Cool down for 5 minutes
Descriptions of the strength training exercises are listed below:
• Push ups - Begin face down on the floor, supporting yourself with your hands approximately shoulder width apart and your arms extended. Your feet can be together or up to 12 inches apart. Keep your body in a straight and neutral position. Do not arch your back. Contract your abdominal muscles to stabilize your spine. Slowly lower your upper body until your chest touches or nearly touches the floor. Slowly return to the starting position. If you are unable to perform this type of push up, do bent knee pushups, which are the same as the regular pushup, except you are supporting your lower body on your knees instead of your feet.
• One Leg Squats - Stand in an upright position. Contract your abdominal muscles to stabilize your trunk and spine. Place one foot (rear foot) behind you on a bench or step that is 6 to 18 inches high. Your other foot (forward foot) should be flat on the floor and directly under your center of gravity. Bend your forward knee until it is at approximately a 90-degree angle. Do not allow your knee to extend in front of your foot. Slowly straighten your forward leg and return to the starting position. Repeat this exercise switching leg positions.
• Triceps press ups - Sit with your back to a bench or step of approximately 18 inches. Place your hands flat on the bench behind you with your elbows pointing directly behind you. Slowly press yourself up until your arms are fully extended. Slowly return to the starting position.
• Abdominal crunches - Lie face up on a mat. Bend your knees and bring your heels close to your hips. Cross your hands over your chest and tuck your chin into your chest. Slowly curl your upper body towards your knees until your shoulder blades leave the floor. This should be a rolling, curling motion. Concentrate on strongly contracting your abdominal muscles. Hold this position for a moment and slowly return to the starting position.
• Bench step ups - Stand in an upright position. Contract your abdominal muscles to stabilize your trunk and spine. Stand directly in front of a bench that is 18 to 24 inches high. Place one foot (lead foot) flat on the bench. With most of your weight on the heel of your lead foot, forcefully push off with your lead foot and assume a standing position with both feet on the bench. Switch leg position and repeat.
• Biceps curls - Stand upright holding a light weight in each hand with your palms facing forward, away from your body. Contract your abdominal muscles to stabilize your trunk and spine. Keep your upper arms against your ribs and perpendicular to the floor. Slowly raise the weight by flexing your arms at your elbows. Keep your upper arms stationary. Raise the weight to the limit of your active and natural motion. Slowly return to the starting position.
The Fat Buster
Weight loss is one of the reasons that many beginning runners decide to take up the sport. They do this for good reason. Treadmill running burns more calories per hour than any other type of exercise machine. Weight loss is a function of calories in versus calories out. If you burn more calories than you take in, on a daily basis, you will lose weight. I am sure that you have read at various times, that if you want to lose weight, you should exercise in the “weight loss zone”. No, that is not a black and white horror series narrated by Rod Serling. The “Zone” is an exercise heart rate range of approximately 65% to 75% that is touted by some to be the ideal exercise intensity for weight loss. They tell you that if you exercise at a higher intensity, you are not burning fat. They are partially right, but mostly wrong.
When you are exercising at a low intensity, you are exercising aerobically, which means “with oxygen”. When you are exercising aerobically, you are burning both fat and carbohydrates to produce energy. In contrast, when you are exercising as hard as you can, such as when you are sprinting, your body cannot use oxygen fast enough to provide enough energy. At this point you are exercising anaerobically, which means “without oxygen.” When you are exercising anaerobically you are burning mostly carbohydrates to produce the energy. The proponents of the “Zone” system do not want you to stray above the fat burning zone because they feel that the goal is to burn as much fat as possible during your workout. That sounds good in theory, but in practice it is the wrong approach. You actually burn very, very little fat in any one workout. For weight loss, your goal should be to maximize your calorie burn in every workout. To do this you need to include some intense exercise in your run. Why? - Because higher intensity exercise does two important things for you:
• It burns more calories per minute than low intensity exercise.
• It improves your level of fitness and makes improvements in your body at the cellular level that trains you to improve the pace of your easy runs so that you begin to burn even more calories in all of your workouts. It improves your body’s ability to burn fat as fuel.
This workout is designed to increase the calories burned during your run, while maintaining the overall easy qualities of the workout. In this workout you will run for 30 minutes alternating between 5 minutes at an easy pace and short 1 minute repeats at a progressively faster pace. Again, elevate your treadmill to level 1 or 1 percent for this workout.
• Warm up for 5 minutes.
• Run at an easy pace for 5 minutes.
• Increase the speed by 15 seconds per mile and run for 1 minute.
• Decrease the speed back to an easy pace and run for 5 minutes.
• Increase the speed by 30 seconds per mile and run for 1 minute,
• Return to an easy pace for 5 minutes.
• Increase the pace by 45 seconds per mile and run for 1 minute.
• Now return to an easy pace for another 5 minutes.
• Increase the pace by 1 minute per mile and run for 1 minute.
• Return to an easy pace for 5 minutes then
• Increase the pace by 1 minute and 15 seconds per mile for another minute.
• Cool down with a few minutes of easy running or walking.
The Treadmill Fat Trimmer Program
• Day 1 - The Big Easy - 2 miles
• Day 2 - The Strength Circuit
• Day 3 - Rest
• Day 4 - The Big Easy - 2.5 miles
• Day 5 - The Fat Buster
• Day 6 - The Big Easy - 3 miles
• Day 7 - The Strength Circuit
• Day 8 - The Big Easy - 3 miles
• Day 9 - Rest
• Day 10 - The Fat Buster
• Day 11 - The Big Easy - 4 Miles
• Day 12 - The Strength Circuit
• Day 13 - The Big Easy - 3 miles
• Day 14 - The Fat Buster
Continue this cycle for the duration of your program. As you become fitter, increase the distance of your easy runs. Do not make any sudden increases in mileage. If you increase your mileage too fast, you will risk injury. A good rule of thumb is to make no increases over 10%. The higher intensity running you are doing with The Fat Buster workout, will improve your running speed. As your fitness level increases your running will begin to feel easier at all paces. So, you should always be adjusting your pace. You should be able to perform your easy runs at faster speeds, while maintaining the comfortable pace. The faster speed will equal more calories burned during your easy runs. Also adjust the speed of your higher intensity runs as your fitness level increases.
